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Perhaps because there are a lot of new people hitting CG for the
first time because of the election surge, I've been getting questions
about the bikini pics on CG in my email every few days. Here's an
example,

"Hello John, my name is Andrew, and I have a quick
question for you. I believe I read in one of your pieces on Right Wing
News that you are a Christian. Is that true? If so, then why does it
look like you post bikini pictures on Conservative Grapevine as well as
RWN? e.g., Sarah Palin at the pool.

Do you think that it's OK to do that as a Christian?" -- Andrew Bell

... I grew up Baptist and still go to church every week -- but, perhaps
I missed the sermon where we were told Christians aren't supposed to
admire the female form or are supposed to be horrified by women in
bikinis. Maybe they just leave that part out because I live at the
beach.

I'd also like to add that you see women in bikinis on TV, in
advertisements, in video games -- just about everywhere in our society.
So, if they help traffic on CG -- and they definitely do (I think it's
entirely possible CG may be bigger than RWN by the end of 2009), then
why wouldn't I want them on there?

Most blog readers are guys, and guys like eye candy. What's weird is that chicks
like celebrity eye candy, too. It's true. Go pick up Us Weekly or
People and what do you see? Paparazzi shots of starlets in bikinis. And
who reads those magazines? Chicks. Same thing with fashion magazines --
lots of shots of barely-dressed models, especially in the ads. For some
reason, completely hetero women like looking at beautiful women.

Blogging
is (or ought to be) a capitalist enterprise, the object being to draw
more visitors and thereby generate more revenue. If there is one thing
that conservatives agree on, it's that capitalism is better than
socialism, so if you don't want me running to Congress asking for a
blogger bailout, then a bit of eye candy is a small price to pay. And
as a greedy capitalist blogger, it makes no difference to me whether
you come for the Anne Hathaway cleavage shots and stay for the politics, or vice-versa.

I've done a bit of babe-blogging over the years. (example) (example) And I wholeheartedly agree - it is a guaranteed traffic generator.

So in the spirit of things, I decided to once again do my part, and share some nice, super hi-res images of some of my favorite celeb-crushes. Images below the fold. Nothing scandalous, but if you are "the weaker brother," then you have been warned:

Star Trek purists, take a deep breath! On Sept. 16,
the iconic ‘60s series will return to syndication for the first time
since 1990, but with a startling difference: All 79 episodes are being
digitally remastered with computer-generated effects not possible when Gene Roddenberry created the show 40 years ago. The news could cause Roddenberry loyalists to have a collective cow, but the longtime Trek staffers in charge of the makeover say they're honoring the late maestro's vision, not changing it.

"We're taking great pains to respect the integrity and style of the original," says Michael Okuda, who spent 18 years as a scenic-art supervisor on Star Trek
films and spin-offs. "Our goal is to always ask ourselves: What would
Roddenberry have done with today's technology?" Okuda's teammates on
the two-year project are his wife, Denise Okuda, with whom he's authored several Trek reference books, and 14-year Trek production vet David Rossi.

The upgraded episodes — to be shown out of order and one per week —
will kick off with "Balance of Terror," a big fan favorite "that gives
us a chance to really show off the ‘new' Enterprise," says Okuda. "The
exterior of the ship now has depth and detail, and it will fly more
dynamically." Painted backdrops will also be brought to life: Once-empty star bases
will have CGI people milling about, while static alien landscapes have
been given slow-moving clouds and shimmering water. Okuda notes that a
view of Earth in the 1966 episode "Miri" has been "replaced with a more
accurate image, now that we've gone into deep space and looked back at
ourselves."

If you want an idea of how the new TV shows will look, check out Daren Dochterman's web site. Dochterman is a special-effects artist who worked on the DVD release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. As a hobby, he re-created special effects for the classic Star Trek episode "The Doomsday Machine." As far as I can tell, these are NOT the special effects that will be used in the new HDTV episodes; they are simply something that Dochterman put together in his spare time. But still ...

Well ya'll, The Dukes of Hazzard opened yesterday to mostly sour reviews. I would imagine that its box office will be satisfactory, though, since both Spike TV and CMTV have been promoting the heck out of it.

A few weeks ago, actor and former Georgia congressman Ben Jones ("Cooter" on the original "Dukes" TV series) had some unkind things to say about the movie. Jones was upset at the profanity and recklessness in the movie script, and the fact that the new movie's producers wanted absolutely nothing to do with the original cast and crew of the TV show. You can view Ben's statement, as published on his own website, here.

For some truly unknown reason, earlier this week I watched a "making of" TV special about the new movie. It was nice to see, as I had always expected, that they wrecked a lot of General Lee's while filming those outlandish and ridiculous car jumps. Not that I have anything against MOPAR cars or the trusty General - it's just that on the TV show, you could always just barely see the front end of the car start to crumple -- before they cut away to a shot of the car driving away without a scratch.

I was also sadly disappointed at the performance of Jessica Simpson as Cousin Daisy. As perfectly-sculpted as she is, her fake tan/fake hair/fake smile/fake boobs/fake body look is just wrong. A department store mannequin would have been more charming.

For us old-time Dukes fans, those of us who made sure that we had NOTHING to do at 7:00 PM central time on Friday nights, the real Cousin Daisy is the lovely, down-home Catherine Bach. Sure, she looked a little hard-ridden, and that tank top probably smelled a little funky after an all-night shift at the Boar's Nest, but dang, she was some kind of woman. The kind of gal who could fix a whale of a home-cooked country breakfast, then fix her own car, and then give any man a good old-fashioned thumping if he deserved it.

As high school football games and other activities began to overtake Friday nights, my love for the show waned. After "The Incredible Hulk" left the air, the Dukes was about the only thing I would have watched on Friday nights anyway. I wasn't a "Dallas" fan. And I suppose after you've been in a few car crashes of your own, they lose
the goofy slapstick appeal that they had in the days of your youth.

But I still love Cousin Daisy.

I've put together a nice little gallery of hi-res pics of Catherine Bach as Cousin Daisy. You can enjoy them below the fold: